U.S. Terror Targets: Petting Zoo and Flea Market?

Posted on Jul 11, 2006

The official anti-terrorism database is so flawed that it lists 8,591 potential terrorism targets in Indiana—50% more than in New York and twice as many as in California. Examples: “Old MacDonalds Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory and the Mule Day Parade.”

N.Y. Times:

It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonalds Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified Beach at End of a Street.

But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a report released Tuesday, found that the list was not childs play: all these unusual or out-of-place sites whose criticality is not readily apparent are inexplicably included in the official federal antiterrorism database.

The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.